Module 7: Case Study I - Jessa the Headhunted Consultant

Jessa was deep in thought as she sipped her iced tea. She has so little time and has such a difficult decision to make! About a month ago, a high-profile internationalrecruiting firm (a headhunter) contacted Jessa. The recruiting firm's client, a world-renowned U.S.-based hospital system, was preparing to open a state-of-the-art medical center in Doha, Qatar. When completed, the new facility was expected to be the most "technologically advanced" hospital in the world. As a health care consultant with international experience, Jessa was being targeted by the recruiting firm. They wanted her to interview for the position of director of information technology for the medical center. While flattered at being considered, Jessa was reluctant, at least at first, to seriously consider the offer to interview. After all, she was young and still establishing herself as a consultant. But Jessa was intrigued by the idea of living and working in a foreign country and this sounded like a tremendous career opportunity.

With some trepidation, Jessa decided to interview for the position. She flew to Doha and over a two-day span met with most of the senior executives of the medical center and also had a complete tour of the nearly completed facility. Jessa thought the interviews went well, but she did detect some hesitation from a couple of the senior officers over how young she was. When she returned home, Jessa was surprised at how quickly an offer was made. The headhunter called within a couple of hours of her plane landing. The medical center wanted her, and they were willing to make her a lucrative offer. The offer came the next day, and it was indeed lucrative. Now Jessa has just two more days to decide whether to accept the position and become a self-initiated expatriate in the far away land of Qatar.

Jessa's Backaround and Initial Job Search

Jessa has always been an overachiever. She graduated at the top of her high school class and completed her undergraduate studies as quickly as she could. In fact, by taking coursework during the summers, she was able to get her bachelor's degree in management by the age of 20. During her college years she always saw herself as more driven, focused, and mature than her classmates. It wasn't that she did not have fun in college, but she knew that she wanted to make a name for herself, and college was just a stepping stone to get to bigger things.

In her last year of college Jessa began taking on-campus interviews. She really thought that a job in consulting would be a perfect fit for her based on her personality, interests, abilities, and desire to travel. Unfortunately, her university did not have any consulting firms recruiting on campus. On a whim, she accompanied a friend to a job fair at another university. To her surprise, there were several consulting firms at the job fair and Jessa met with representatives from most of them. Jessa secured an interview with the one firm in which she was most interested. The company flew her to their headquarters for a full day of interviews. Afterward, she thought she had secured the position, but was bitterly disappointed when she received a rejection letter. Undeterred, Jessa continued to pursue job leads in the consulting industry. Through a friend of her father, Jessa landed a meeting with the CEO of a mid-sized consulting company. After some intensive interviews, she was offered the job of an associate consultant. The compensation was highly competitive, but the benefits were only so-so. She would be traveling nearly 100 percent of the time, mostly domestically within the United States,but with some international assignments as well. Jessa accepted the offer and her career was well on its way.

Jessa's Early Career

Jessa's first two years with the consulting company were a whirlwind of travel, meetings, consulting interviews, report deadlines, and crafting management recommendations. In her initial assignments, Jessa's role was mainly that of a supporting analyst. But after about a year she began taking on the role of lead consultant. Jessa clearly was thriving as a consultant and the company was putting its faith in her. Her assignments typically involved spending anywhere from three weeks to three months with a client getting to know its business, industry, and competitive advantages and weaknesses. Her company specialized in information technology (IT) solutions to business problems and opportunities, and Jessa's background in and comfort with IT, helped her gain the trust of the clients. In fact, a couple of her clients actually made offers of full-time employment to her, but Jessa wished to remain a consultant and continue to gain more multi-industry experience. She did not mind the travel and living out of her suitcase too much. The biggest plus was that she could survive on her expense account and meal allowance and "bank" her paycheck. Besides, with the long hours of a consultant, it really did not matter what city she was in. Her "residence-du-jour" was her hotel room and she became an expert at ordering room service. Hotel food wasn't that bad if matched with a nice glass of wine.

After four years as a consultant Jessa started doing some career reappraisal. She was doing well as a consultant and wanted to stay the course, but she also realized that she needed to invest in her skill sets if she wanted to continue to progress. Jessa began investigating top-ten business schools in the U.S. to see if she could find an MBA program that would fit with her travel and work schedule and would have the right elements to advance her career. She also began talking to her company about tuition reimbursement, knowing full well that an MBA from a top school would cost well into the six-figures. To her surprise, her company told Jessa that it was not willing to support her MBA efforts financially. However, they were willing to give her scheduling flexibility to attend in-person and residency classes, but only if it all could be worked out with limited disruptions to her work commitments. Jessa was disappointed at the lack of financial support, but she went ahead with the graduate degree anyway. She was accepted and enrolled in an elite business school, working on an MBA in cross-cultural management. The MBA program had a substantial online component, with the in-person classes mainly concentrated on weekends. While the pursuit of the MBA caused her stress levels to skyrocket, Jessa loved the coursework and the give-and-take with her professors and her classmates. Fortunately, she had banked enough of her salary over the years that she was able to pay for the degree out of her own pocket.

Six years into her career, Jessa had extensive consulting experience and an MBA from a top-tier program. Through her work and her graduate program, she had been to 11 different countries. About six months earlier, her company had made a strategicdecision to specialize in health care consulting, given the growth in that industry and regulatory changes that required creative IT solutions. Jessa was in agreement with the company's move and she quickly ramped up her knowledge of the health care industry. Eight years into her career, she was the top consultant for her company when it came to health care clients, and her name was becoming well-known in the industry.

Jessa's Family and Personal Life

Jessa's nearly all-consuming focus on her career and her graduate coursework left little time for leisure or for socializing. One of the known occupational hazards of consulting is the lack of time for anything other than the job itself and the traveling. Living on the road, and often on consulting assignments by herself, meant that she spent a considerable amount of time alone. She dared not socialize with employees of clients, thinking that could jeopardize her work and her objectivity. Jessa was close with her family. She communicated regularly with her parents and her siblings while on the road, using Skype, email, and texting to stay in touch. Jessa owned a condo that served as her home base when she did get off the road. Fortunately, her house was close to where her parents lived and she visited them as often as she could.

Jessa recognized that she needed to socialize more, but she just did not have the time. She had career goals that needed to be accomplished. She rationalized that her career could come first now, and then later she could think about marriage and starting a family. But she vowed to herself to leave more time for leisure and to try to establish closer personal relationships. When she did fantasize about the future she often thought about going back to school to get a Ph.D. and become a college professor. Her father was a professor and Jessa saw that it gave him great flexibility to have a nice balance between work and family commitments. She was sure she could handle the academic side of the doctorate, but the thought of devoting five or more years of schooling to get the Ph.D. gave her pause. But in the back of her mind it was something to contemplate.

The Doha Offer and the Dilemma

Jessa continued to nurse her iced tea. She was waiting for her former professor to arrive at the restaurant. She had contacted him to get his advice on her impending career choices. She had always trusted her professor's guidance and she really hoped that he could give her insight. Her professor had been the one who encouraged her to pursue consulting as a career. When he arrived, Jessa quickly described the offer and how conflicted she was over it. The details were pretty straightforward and had been laid out in a formal offer sheet. She would have a substantial salary that would be adjusted based on the movement in the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the Qatari riyal. In addition, she would have allowances for living expenses, clothing, and food. She would also be allotted three expense-paid trips back to the U.S. annually. Jessa liked the idea that everything was in writing; it gave her confidence that theoffer and the commitment to her were solid. Jessa also reasoned that if the expatriation move to Qatar did not work out, she could always repatriate back to the U.S. Of course, a premature exit from the position at the medical center might not be a wise move from a career perspective.

Jessa then described the dilemma to her professor. First, her family members, especially her father, were dead set against the move. There were multiple reasons why her family was pressuring her to reject the offer. She would be much further away from home; she would be traveling to a country with a typically patriarchal culture and with societal restrictions on the dress and behaviors of women; and although Qatar is relatively safe and open, it sits in the Middle East with the attendant geopolitical uncertainty and terrorism threats. Second, Jessa was herself not certain that leaving consulting would be the best career move. She was obviously successful as a consultant, with a proven track record and a loyal set of clients. Although there were no promises from the consulting company, Jessa thought she might be able to become a partner sometime in the next five to ten years. If she took the job in Doha, the consulting career and future promotions would be curtailed. Third, Jessa was concerned that a move to the Middle East might further hamper her ability to establish a more meaningful social life. She knew that Qatar had a vast expatriate population, but it was transitory with most expatriates spending only two or three years in the country. Finally, in the back of Jessa's mind was the possibility of pursuing a Ph.D. and becoming a college professor. A self-initiated expatriation move to a Middle Eastern country would delay that possibility or even remove it from consideration.

After hearing Jessa's story, her professor knew they had quite a bit to discuss. He suggested they order dinner and then talk this through.

Case Analysis Questions:

1. Based on the definition and description of expatriation in this chapter, do you think Jessa has the background and the personal make-up to be successful as a self-initiated expatriate? Why or why not?
2. Do you think Jessa is too "career focused?" Why or why not? Should she be more attuned to achieving greater balance in her life by increasing her involvement in non-work interests and activities?
3. What family and personal life factors are influencing Jessa's career decision-making? How big a role should her parents' opinions play in her career decisions? At her age and level of experience, should they play a role at all?
4. If Jessa were to accept the position with the medical center in Doha, what potential cultural challenges, issues, or risks do you think she would encounter? Do you think these factors should give Jessa pause or hesitation in considering the offer? Why or why not?
5. If Jessa sought your help, what advice would you give her in terms of the management of her career? If you had to make a prediction, do you think that Jessa will accept the Doha offer? Why or why not?